For a second consecutive year, they will open the season without their five-time All-Star second baseman because his knees won’t allow him to play.

What’s worse is that the questions now hounding Utley are more philosophical than immediate. Such as: Will he ever be the same player again? Or, at 33 and with the knees of a much older man, is Utley doomed to provide seriously diminishing returns in the final two years ($30 million total) of the seven-year deal he signed in 2007?